southern lights

American  

noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. aurora australis.

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southern lights British  

plural noun

1. another name for aurora australis

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southern lights Scientific  

1. See under aurora

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Usage

What are the southern lights? The southern lights are the shimmering display of lights that sometimes appears in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere. The phenomenon is also called aurora australis (the word australis is Latin for austral, which simply means “southern”). An aurora is a natural light display in the sky that is caused by particles from the sun interacting with Earth’s magnetic field. The aurora australis appears in many colors ranging from green and pink to red, yellow, and blue. Auroras are not exclusive to Earth and occur on every planet in our solar system except Mercury. And the southern lights are not the only aurora on Earth. The more commonly known aurora in the Northern Hemisphere is called aurora borealis or the northern lights (the word borealis is Latin for boreal, which simply means “northern”). Both the northern and southern versions can be called aurora polaris because they occur around Earth’s poles, but this term is not commonly used. The southern lights dazzle the many people who travel to see the natural light show, which is considered one of Earth’s most magical phenomena.

Etymology

Origin of southern lights

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

Particularly fierce solar storms can knock out satellites and threaten astronauts -- and create dazzling auroras in the skies known as the northern or southern lights.

From Barron's • May 19, 2026

The dark ovals, when seen, are almost always located just below the bright auroral zones at each pole, which are akin to Earth's northern and southern lights.

From Science Daily • Nov. 26, 2024

One camera will look straight ahead at the horizon, capturing sunrises and sunsets, as well as the northern and southern lights.

From BBC • Mar. 20, 2024

On Earth, it triggers geomagnetic storms that can disrupt satellites and it causes the dazzling auroras - the northern and southern lights - at high latitudes.

From Reuters • Aug. 24, 2023

There is reason to believe that the southern lights had never been seen by any navigator before this voyage of Cook's.--E.

From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 14 by Kerr, Robert